The Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund will honor a civil rights activist with a lifetime achievement award this week.

Spokeswoman Angela Brown said in a release that C.T. Vivian, a freedom rider and Southern Christian Leadership Conference organizer, is being honored by the organization Thursday at its 46th annual Anniversary Celebration at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham.

Vivian joined in his first sit-in demonstrations in the 1940s in Peoria, Ill., long before the movement became national news.